Wichita County Commissioners are saying yes to the purchase of new election equipment, and for a high price. The commissioners voted to spend $1 million dollars on the equipment, which will include 210 new voting machines. This comes after county officials learned last month the new election equipment system would operate on more current Windows operating systems. While it comes at a high price, commissioners feel the county needs that equipment before election season. Wichita County has used it’s current election equipment, by the company Election Systems and Software for 10 years. This system operates on Windows XP and Microsoft no longer provides security updates for that operating system, which is why commissioners have decided the county needs a change. “The security could be compromised. It’s not as secure, there’s not security patches being put into it. And it’s on the internet, so we had had some vulnerability to it, and it didn’t work very well for us,” Judge Woody Gossom says.
Officials say this new system by the Texas-based company, Hart InterCivic, will also make casting ballots on election day more convenient for voters, and will allow the county to switch from polling precincts to voting centers.
“Hart InterCivic has agreed to come here, run this election, work with us on it, do all the programming,” Judge Gossom says.
This system will enable the county to go from 35 polling sites to around 18, saving thousands of dollars. It also promises to make the voting process a smooth one for voters, while opening up opportunities for even more improvements in the future.
Full Article: Wichita County Commissioners Approve New Election Equipment.
